High-pressure squirt guns have long been known in the prior art. Such squirt guns usually include a hollow housing having a squirt hole from which water is expelled. The housing may be fashioned in the shape of a rifle or pistol which includes within an expandable rubber bladder connected to filling and release means. The filling means comprises a one-way flow valve that is connectable to the household water supply and allows water to flow only from the supply into the bladder when the release means is in its normal position. It is common to dispose the filling means at the squirt hole so that water is received into and expelled from the gun through the same hole. The release means includes a trigger and is adapted to allow water to leave the bladder through the squirt hole only when the trigger is activated. The bladder is intended to accept the water through the filling means at standard household water line pressure, to expand according to the pressure of the supply and the resiliency of the bladder, to hold that water indefinitely under that pressure, and to release the water when the trigger is activated.
Problems common to all such expandable bladder type squirt guns are several-fold. Firstly, the bladders must be designed to safely hold water at great pressure, which requires that the rubber walls be very thick and of high quality. Such bladders are therefore inherently expensive. Secondly, regardless of the economy of the bladder itself, the deterioration of the rubber over time may render the bladders less reliable and such bladders are therefore inherently unsafe without some sort of pressure relief valve. Such relief valves are found in the cited prior art, but are additionally expensive. Thirdly, such relief valves limit the maximum pressure at which the gun may accept water from the source, regardless of the actual pressure of the source. As a result, such prior art guns are unable to expel water to a distance that would otherwise be possible. Fourthly, the relaxed bladder has a volume in its normal and unexpanded state, such as after the bladder is filled and emptied, that undesirably retains a substantial amount of water even after the pressure has been fully reduced. So such guns are incapable of expelling a large portion of the water that they can hold. It is common, for instance, for a “one-gallon” gun to hold one gallon of water when filled at normal supply pressure, but to only expel two quarts and to retain two quarts in its bladder when the pressure has been depleted. Fifthly, it is difficult to control the pressure reduction within the bladder and therefore the velocity at which the water is expelled. Several of the cited prior art guns have means which attempt to retain consistent velocity, but the nature of rubber bladders render such attempts unreliable at best. Generally speaking, these guns initially expel water at high velocity, but the velocity drops off rapidly and the squirt distance diminishes rapidly as the water is expelled.
Other prior art squirt guns utilize compressed gas to assist in forcing greater quantities of liquid out from the squirt gun to greater distances. One method of injecting compressed gas into the hollow housing of the gun is in the use of a removable cartridge of compressed gas. Other versions of compressed-air type squirt guns utilize manually actuated hand pumps that will introduce air into the housing and compress the air by pumping action. While both such squirt guns expel water to a long distance, the pressure maintained in the housing must be replenished by pumping or by the use of an additional cartridge of compressed gas. Furthermore, the use of compressed gas requires at least some space within the hollow housing into which the gas may be compressed so as to force the water out of the nozzle. This limits the amount of liquid that may be inserted in the squirt gun.
Problems common to all pump-type squirt guns reside in their use of complicated pump mechanisms with many parts. Not only are such mechanisms expensive, but also, they are also prone to breakage during use.
It is therefore a principle object of the present invention to provide an improved trigger-actuated squirt gun capable of propelling liquid a long distance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved squirt gun that does not require the use of externally supplied compressed gas or pump mechanisms.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a long-range trigger-actuated squirt gun with very few moving parts.
Still another object is to provide a squirt gun that is simple in operation, economical to manufacture, safe, durable in use and refined in appearance.
Still another object is to provide a squirt gun that is capable of receiving water from a water supply at any anticipated pressure and to hold and expel water at that pressure so that the squirt distance can be maximized.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the related arts upon review of the disclosure herein provided for the present invention.